The Touch of Fear
by Resacon1990
Summary: No. No he wasn't going to throw up. This was ridiculous. There wasn't anything to difficult about this. Walk in, explain himself, walk out and never see any of them again. It was fool proof.


**Prompt: A shop is the location, fear is the theme.**

* * *

Seto didn't let on that he was scared.

Not once as they drove. He saw Mokuba glancing out of the corner of his eye, a frown creasing his brow, but Seto didn't once make a mention of any of his emotions or… well he just didn't speak at all. He merely sat staring out the windshield, back ramrod straight with his hands clutching each other in his lap, waiting for the trip to be over and for his hell to start.

"Seto."

He commended himself for not flinching once when Mokuba called his name, nor when his brothers hand touched his arm lightly. Instead he just took a deep breath and turned to give him a passive look with a blatant "yes?". He watched as Mokuba bit his lip as his eyes darted between the road and his face and he could tell he was clearly distressed, but he offered no words or any form of comfort.

"We're almost there," Mokuba started, and Seto watched in fascination as the skin over his brothers knuckles tightened when he clenched them around the steering wheel, "and… if you want to back out now, Seto, no one will think less of you."

"Yes they will."

"No they-"

"They will, Mokuba. There is no denying that." He turned his head back to staring out the windshield, seeing their destination approaching, and he offered it a grim smile. "I have to face him, don't I? I owe him an explanation."

"You don't owe him anything."

"But I do." Seto made sure his voice was firm as he glanced at his brother, seeing white lips as they were pushed together, and he couldn't help but smile at how familiar it was. He heard the sigh of resignation though and knew he'd won before Mokuba pulled the car over into a park, turning it off with a quick flick before glancing his way.

"Are you-"

"Mokuba, stop." Quickly he unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the car, dropping his legs to the pavement and taking a moment to breath before standing up. He could feel himself growing more and more anxious by the minute, his stomach feeling uncomfortable and he felt his salvia beginning to heat up.

No. No he wasn't going to throw up. This was ridiculous. There wasn't anything to difficult about this. Walk in, explain himself, walk out and never see any of them again. It was fool proof.

"You'll be okay, stop worrying."

"Says you," he attempted to joke back to Mokuba as his brother moved up beside him, but it came out as more of a snarl and he saw the small smile on Mokuba's face slip off. He sighed. Dammit.

But Mokuba just nodded and gave his hand a squeeze before moving towards the shop door, the Kame Game shop door, and opened it, calling out a loud greeting to the inhabitants. Seto could hear an answering shout and clenched his hands as he attempted to breath at a regular pace, he was cut off though when Mokuba's hand settled on his elbow and gently pulled him forward into the shop.

The sight of the others standing all around the desk in the shop didn't bother him, nor the cry of outrage from one of males and the squeak of surprise from the three females. He recognised them all, he knew that they'd all hold back the one attempting to scrabble over the desk already screaming profanities at him, and he knew that the smallest one would step forward and address him kindly.

"Kaiba? What are you doing here?" the smallest one did in fact ask, and Seto almost smiled at this.

"I…" Dammit, where were the words he needed. He almost turned to Mokuba for help, but he just took a deep breath instead and tried again. "Yugi… I came to see him. I thought he… I think I owe him an apology, or an explanation."

"Or maybe both?" Yugi offered him with a small hesitant smile, right before someone pushed him to the side. "Tristan!"

"He doesn't want to see you!" Tristan snarled as he lunged at Seto, and he allowed himself a moment of fear and horror to flood him before he just closed his eyes and waited patiently for the fist to land. He deserved it. He was sure of that.

But no fist or any limb came into contact, only the sound of laboured pants and he slowly opened his eyes to see Tristan just standing there glaring at him.

"You hurt him," he spat. Seto flinched.

"I know."

"You're an asshole."

"I know."

Tristan just stood there for a moment before he nodded his head sharply and turned to look at the others, stopping short and Seto frowned as he looked around him. Only to freeze in horror, and his stomach began to roll faster.

"Joey…"

"Seto." The voice was strong and assertive, but Seto saw the bags under Joey's eyes and the way he was clearly leaning heavily on the doorframe. Lack of sleep? He assumed so. Joey looked about ready to collapse.

He opened his mouth ready to speak, to try and get his explanation out but Joey bet him to it as he stumbled forward and began to walk towards him, eyebrows furrowed and mouth already saying words Seto couldn't hear as blood rushed into his ears and he suddenly felt like he was going to collapse.

"I-shit. Mokuba, this was a mistake," he managed to get out as he staggered backward, seeing the looks of confusion cross everyones faces before he looked down at his brother. "I was wrong in thinking… _fuck_."

Nobody said a word as he turned around and headed back to the door, his trembling hand reaching out to yank it open but he barely had his fingertips scraping the knob before a hand was on his hip, pulling him around and slamming him viciously against the hard wood door. A stunned gasp slipped from his lips as a hand slipped in his hair and tilted his head up in time for lips to slam against his.

His eyes widened when he realised just who it was and, despite knowing it was a bad idea, he allowed his eyes to slip shut and his shaky hands rise up to cup Joey's cheeks as he kissed back.

He was breathless when Joey pulled back to press their foreheads together, breathing heavily.

"Why did you say no?"

Seto would've been lying if he'd said he hadn't been expecting the question, but it still stunned him enough to drop his hands to wrap around his midriff and try to all but sink back into the wood behind him. He glanced over Joey's shoulder, seeing everyone watching them cautiously, some of them having moved forward as if to pry them away from one another. It was useless looking at Mokuba though, his brother looked helpless and confused, there was nothing to encourage him to actually talk to Joey.

"_Answer me_!" The cry of outrage was punctuated with one of Joey's fists slamming into the door right beside Seto's face, making him cry out in shock and actually whimper. Joey wasn't abusive, he never had been, but he knew the other tended to be more physical in his anger.

"I… Joey, I-"

"Spit it out!"

Seto felt anger at those words, and raised his arms to slam his hands into Joey's chest, making the other stumble back and look at him in surprise. But Seto just shook his head and felt for the door behind him, desperate to escape.

"I'm sorry," he managed to force out, "but we just… just weren't right for each other. And, I guess I saw that before you did." Seto managed to pull the door open before Joey's next words got to him, and he was just stepping out it when they registered.

"But we had something, Seto. We _loved _each other."

"I don't even know what love is!" he suddenly whirled around and almost screamed, staring at Joey and ignoring the shock on his face. "I have never know what that is! You say you've shown me, you say that what you feel for me is love, but I don't know because… because _I don't know_!"

Joey was back in front of him now, not touching him but just watching him. "You do know, you do, Seto. And I wanted to share it with you, _want _to share it with you. That's why I proposed."

"And you're an idiot," Seto stammered, looking down at the ground to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. He refused to let them fall, blink rapidly as if they'd leave. "You're an idiot for thinking you could be with me."

"Why now? Why now when I propose? You never had a problem when we were dating."

"Because it's not like it'd be sealed in concrete!" he swiftly retorted, wondering if Joey could hear how bitter he was. "When we were dating, we could walk away. There was nothing to keep us together except ourselves. Ma… Marriage is a more _permanent _resolution."

"So you're scared of commitment?"

"_I'm scared of hurting you_!" The statement was punctuated by Seto throwing a fist in Joey's direction, a choked sob on his lips and the cries of surprise from the others in his ears. But it never landed as Joey moved out of the way and caught his wrist, making him stumble before Joey dragged him into a tight embrace, holding him gently against his chest. He was murmuring words, words Seto couldn't understand as he furiously beat against Joey's chest before sagging against him, puling quietly. He felt waves of terror washing over him, exhaustion flooding his body and he truly just felt like _giving _up.

"Seto, calm down, it's okay."

"It's not okay," he sobbed into Joey's neck, "it'll never be okay. I did this to avoid hurting you, I pushed you away and convinced myself I didn't need you, that I didn't want you. _But_ _I hurt you anyway_! No matter what I do… I just… can't _do _relationships-"

"Shut up."

Joey cut him off, drawing him away enough that Seto could see his hard face staring down at him. He nibbled on his lip, unable to meet his eyes before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"No, no, Seto stop," Joey interrupted again, reaching forward and cupping one of Seto's cheeks and he found himself hating that he couldn't resist the urge to nuzzle into it. "Please, you need to stop beating yourself up over this, and you _need _to stop being so damn well fucking delusional!"

He hadn't been expecting that.

"You're fine, Seto, you're better than _fine_. You're perfect." Joey snorted before he leaned in and placed their foreheads back together, offering Seto a small smile. "Do you think I would've asked you to marry me, _marry me _of all things if I didn't think you were perfect? If I didn't _love _you?"

"But, I can hurt you-"

"You'll always be able to hurt me, _always_. But that's the risk of love."

Seto frowned, looking at Joey completely puzzled. "Why risk it? Why risk the pain just for… for _me_?" he asked, not understanding. He wasn't worth it right?

Joey just grinned though and kissed his forehead before speaking, his lips brushing against the skin as he did. "Because," he whispered, "why live life safely when I can live with you? When I can be with you? You're a risk I'm certainly willing to take." He pulled back and looked Seto in the eyes again, smiling brightly.

"But-"

"I love you."

Seto's breath hitched, just like every other time Joey'd ever said that to him, and he felt his bottom lip wobbling before he was grinning and hugging Joey, arms around his neck as he pressed his face into the curve of the others neck, inhaling his smell and melting into his arms. "I love you too," he murmured, meaning the words as much as he could and the answering squeeze let him know that Joey understood. They pulled away after a moment, and Seto half expected Joey to sweep him into a kiss, but was admittedly disappointed when Joey just pushed him arms length away.

He decided he wasn't though when the other dropped to his knee instead.

"So, now that we've sorted that all out," Joey chuckled, giving Seto a wink and a quirky grin, "can I ask again?"

"Can you-"

"Will you marry me?"

And unlike last time, where Seto's heart dropped into his stomach and he felt like vomiting everywhere in his panic state, Seto grinned as Joey pulled out the small box containing the simple ring and he began nodding his head before words could even form on his lips. Not that the continuous line of "yes yes _yes_" were very intelligible but Joey didn't seem to care as he stood up and scooped Seto into another hug, lips seeking out Seto's and he instantly sunk into it, trying hard not to grin.

"Really?" Joey asked when they pulled back for breath.

"Really." Seto sealed it with a kiss before bubbly laughter broke from his mouth and he was clutching Joey tighter as he was spun around, his feet leaving the ground for a moment and making him laugh even harder.

Seto didn't let on he was scared as Joey dropped him to the ground and his… _their_ friends swarmed forward demanding he put on the ring. He didn't mention his fears nor the horror at what he'd done. But as Joey looked up and grinned, reaching over to kiss his cheek lightly before turning back to the others, Seto realised why.

He just wasn't scared anymore.

* * *

**Seto does seem OOC, but frankly if I was him and scared shitless of hurting the one I loved then yeah, I'd be out of character too. **


End file.
